News and press statements
Implications of Zimbabwe’s National AI Strategy on Freedom of Expression, Privacy, and Access to Information
Beyond direct content moderation, the strategy’s surveillance-enabling provisions (discussed below under privacy) have a secondary effect on expression. Where digital activity is subject to continuous monitoring, individuals may alter their behaviour because they perceive they are being observed. When AI systems analyse communication patterns or flag content as potentially risky, this chilling effect is amplified.
Call for Applications for 20 Media Outlets: Connected Media, Informed Citizens – Cooperation in Fighting Against Disinformation in Southern Africa
Closing date June 21th 2026 at 11.59 p.m. (GMT + 1)
Dialogue Fund: Innovation for Viability
Teams need to have a focus on quality, public-interest information journalism and be based in Namibia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia, Eswatini, or Lesotho.
MISA launches Regional Media Lawyers Network
The Network is currently anchored in MISA Chapters in Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia, and Mozambique, with a view to expanding into other countries in the region.
MISA Zimbabwe State of the Media Report 2025 – Now Available!
The arrest of Zimbabwe Independent editor Faith Zaba, and the local, regional and global
outrage that followed, brought to the fore the untenable legislative operating environment
for journalists in Zimbabwe.
South Africa, Namibia lead as Tanzania, Zimbabwe slip in press freedom rankings
The World Press Freedom Index highlights the rise in coordinated online harassment, particularly against female journalists.
MISA launches sixth edition of the Southern Africa Press Freedom Report
The report exposes a pervasive crisis of Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV).
Viable free media key to promoting peace and socio-economic prosperity
Laws that curtail freedom of expression and media freedom should be repealed without delay.
An urgent call to invest in democracy and development in Southern Africa
While countries such as South Africa, Namibia and Botswana remain comparatively open, they face mounting structural pressures.
Meanwhile, Malawi, Lesotho, Zambia and Mozambique occupy a fragile middle ground, where the space for journalism is inconsistent.
In Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Eswatini and Angola, we see restrictive conditions characterised by legal repression, intimidation and censorship.